“Being lesbian, gay, or bisexual is not a disease, disorder, illness, deficiency, or shortcoming.”
More than two dozen national medical and mental health organizations—including the American Psychiatric Association, the American Medical Association, and the National Association of Social Workers—have taken positions against the practice of conversion therapy. Such efforts, they note, “have serious potential to harm young people because they present the view that the sexual orientation of lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth is a mental illness or disorder, and they often frame the inability to change one’s sexual orientation as a personal or moral failure.”
Several weeks later, alone at home, I attempted suicide. It was a shoddy and failed attempt. And for that failure, I’m grateful.
So, to be clear, a fringe group of Illinois pastors believes it’s within their rights to advertise and promote services that don’t work, that rely upon false pretenses, and that could cause immense harm to clients. That’s the very definition of consumer fraud—and their status as clergy shouldn’t allow them to potentially profit from a bold-faced lie that also doubles as theological violence.
Young queer people in Illinois deserve that protection—and all the love and safety we can offer them. v
